Singapore Arts, Beauty and Inspirations Male Blogger

Buffets of an Asian spread don't usually excites me that much as compared to an international or a Japanese buffet. Perhaps the mindset of Asian food being rather typical to me since I grew up consuming mainly Chinese cuisine.

Anyway, it was not my first time having this well known Penang cuisine buffet from Princess Terrace Cafe, located in Copthorne King Hotel. The spread wasn't huge but I still enjoyed some of the dishes available after all. 

Nine Fresh is the first local chain of Taiwanese dessert brand in Singapore, and the name derives from jiufen (jiu = nine), a place located in Taiwan, famous for its taro balls. The company decided to rebrand from the previous beanstalk to focus on the authenticity of the popular Taiwanese dessert. Best of all? The prices are so affordable and yet delicious!
 

The 4th outlet finally open in the north, located at the basement of the still renovating Sun Plaza (Sambawang). Crowd spotted taking away to enjoy in the comfort of their homes.

As recommended by the staff, the 3 most popular choice were No. 1, 3 and 5. I spotted other interesting options such as mango/durian beancurd and grass jelly with ice cream as well! *Drooling*
 

By this moment, my friend and I were already selecting our picks and guessing which bowl would suit our tastebuds! Typical of us when we are spoilt for choice. 

I was like 'hold on'! I want to take more photos first!
 

3. Nine Fresh Signature ($2.50) - with beancurd, grass jelly, taro balls, red beans, green beans, pinto beans and peanuts
Known to be more filling, the silky smooth texture of the beancurd easily pleased me and you even get the option to choose either the soft or crunchy peanuts!



5. Black Sugar Aiyu Jelly Special ($3.50) - with taro balls (2 servings), red beans, pearls and milk ball
(This bowl is the latest creation, selling at $2.90 for a limited time only.)
I felt that this was the most refreshing dessert. It was light, soothing and definitely my favourite option! We realized that we had forgotten to add in the milk ball for this dessert. =.='' This shows how good it was naturally! 

The so called milk ball is a bit misleading. I don't see any milky ball in the dessert? It is actually the pourable milk given in a small packet, to give the dessert a mild flavour enhancement.



O man, I did not expect my dessert to be so filling! Must be those chewy taro balls? No wonder I see so many ladies take away these to substitute their lunch when I was at Toa Payoh. A healthier choice too since everything is not too sweet.

Pssst....the matcha milk latte is my favourite drink! Milky, not so sweet and a hint of matcha! 

 

Locations:

Toa Payoh Lorong 6 Blk 520 #01-50

Jurong Point Shopping Centre #01-17G

Jurong East Bus Interchange (bus 25, 7, 30e)

Sun Plaza #B1-36 (next to Sembawang MRT ; NEW!)

 

Operating hours:

11am - 10pm

 

Check out their facebook page here and also their webpage http://www.ninefresh.com/ !

 

Thank you Nine Fresh Dessert Taiwan for the tasting.

 

The search for a good and affordable buffet became a constant tinkling in my mind and ultimately becoming part of my lifestyle for a few years already. It sounds so exaggerated but a non binge eater would not understand that. The need to force myself to quit this habit ever since I looked through my external hard drive and realized that I ate an average of 10 buffets per year, with the most hitting up to 14. As age keeps going upwards and cannot be reverse, I dared not continue this sort of food spamming. I admit that I usually ended up bloated with food that would take many hours to digest after a buffet session. Not to say buffets, I sometimes eat dinner twice in just less than an hour apart - a bowl of noodles + burger. WTH right...?
Enough of being a anti-buffet person for now since I am about to share a Japanese buffet experience.

I got to know about this outlet located at UE Square after scanning through my Entertainer App for 1 for 1 food deals. Check out some of the other deals using the app here! Not my best interior shot but I felt that the sushi bar is the essence of any Japanese restaurant.



It is an ala carte buffet where we ordered through the Ipad. Obviously the first thing I would usually look for would be the sashimi. My eyes literally lit up upon seeing the word 'swordfish'! How rare to have buffets serving swordfish sashimi nowadays. Even many hotel buffets remove swordfish from their buffet line. Could it be because of the price? The reason why I like swordfish is because their smell is really faint as compared to tuna, the texture is firmer and slightly chewier than salmon and taste wise would be harder to describe till you try it. Anyway, I easily wiped out 20+ slices of each (salmon and swordfish).



The ramen was just so-so to me but my friend really love it a lot. I guess it is just individual preferences. My other 2 favourite dishes that are not featured here due to ugly pictures were the unagi sushi and the pumpkin chawamushi. They were just amazingly delicious!


Besides the usual Japanese items like handrolls, sushi, sashimi, they also have grilled items! Too bad the pork belly we had was tough and dry, so we did not bother trying the rest unless it was stated that the grilled items were their specialty.

Need cups of tea to cleanse my tummy! Too busy with food that I did not take much pictures.

CooperVision may sounds quite familiar to those who wear contacts lens, since they are one of the world's leading manufacturers of soft contact lenses and related products and services. As most of us usually go for the 'normal' lens of near/far sightedness or even astigmatism (散光), we have no idea CooperVision actually carries another type of lens specially catered to people with presbyopia. 

 

Huh??? What the heck is presbyopia??? Never heard of that word before. 

 

Normally people around my age (mid 20s, not exactly young already), but still have not heard of this term before. Not until I googled its exact definition and spotted the Chinese word '老花'. Sounds familiar right?? Usually the older generation like our grandparents would mention the Chinese word instead.

In short (cut all those scientific explanations), it is when you feel like you need a pair of longer arms to clearly read newspapers or any articles because objects close up gets blurry. Usually affect everyone once you reach the age of 40-45.

 

Can you tell from the cartoon above which man actually have presbyopia??

 Man from cartoon: ''Hey, need some help here!''

contact lenses for presbyopia are getting popular since everyone wants to look good at all times, especially during occasions, attending gathering or events. 

Source from CooperVision

Before you actually purchase your lens, why not experience a 5 day trial session with CooperVision?

Check out the link here! http://coopervision.com.sg/trial-lenses 

   

 

 

The last time I visited Chinatown Food Street for a meal was a year back. The experience was definitely not the same last week since Chinese New Year is just around the corner. The streets were tainted red with New Year stuffs, lights and lanterns hanging overhead, vendors shouting for attention to promote their products, and I trying to squeeze my way through the crowded streets to get to my destination - Chinatown Food Street. Despite the horrible jam and everyone being forced to walk slowly in tiny steps, I could feel everyone's impending joy and excitement for this festive season.
 

Finally reaching Chinatown Food Street - From 30 Jan to 18 Feb, the operating hours of Chinatown Food Street will be extended to 2am daily! In order to cater to the supper fans, an additional 120 seats has been added and bringing the total capacity to over 800 pax! Not to forget the range of 24 hawker stalls to order from too.

Chinatown Food Street will be closed on 19 Feb (Chu Yi) and will resume operations on 20 Feb with its original operating hours of 11am to 11pm. 

The Event kick-started off with the Yusheng (S$28 for small, S$38 for large), also known as lo hei. It is considered a symbol of abundance, prosperity and vigor. I read through the cheng yu (4 word Chinese idioms) with my cannot-make-it mandarin during each addition of ingredients before we all started lo hei-ing wildly! Bits and pieces raining everywhere across the whole table....


Posing with the rows of electronic firecrackers which 'exploded' with realistic crackling sound every hour from 8-10 that night. This is the only yearly season when I get to pose with firecrackers.
 

After the lo hei, we were all ready up for the game! Each groups were to purchase 10 different dishes from any stall along Chinatown Food Street and to take a photo with the (hashtag) #Chinatownfoodstreet ! Below are some of the food pictures I have taken for your reference. (Not according to any sequence, just the nicer pictures.)
 

Outlet name: Chong Chong Ngoh Hiang Prawn Fritter



Outlet name: Newton Circus Admad Ibrahim Satay

Outlet name: Maxwell Road Soon Soon Popiah . Laksa

Outlet name: Chinatown Enak Fritters



Outlet name: Chinatown Crab Master

Outlet name: Food Street Fried Kway Teow Mee 





Outlet name: Chinatown Food Street Hot/Cold Beverages

It would be great if only I could try the food from every single stall, provided my stomach could digest in time before sleep. I kept mentioning that we all needed a coconut drink to cool off the heat as well as to quench our thirst! Our table really ended up with mainly coconuts and lime juice!
 

Evilbean and I posing with our coconut!
 

By the way, the winner of the game was my group!!! We were all so siao-on, dashing off to order the food and back busy with the hashtagging! From 13 Feb to 3 March, spend $10 in a single receipt at Chinatown Food Street and get a 20% discount voucher off Trick Eye Museum admission tickets. T&Cs apply: Voucher is valid until 31 March 2015 only

Photo Credits: Lunarrive blog

 

Too bad you can't reserve the whole Chinatown Food Street for yourself! (I so love the bright light at this spot!)


Thank you Rachel, Chinatown Food Street for the invite and Charmaine, Peishan for the hosting!
 

Domino's once again launches something new, something golden

 right before this coming Chinese New Year!

Not 1 but 4 exciting new baked Golden Chicken that comes with different sauce and toppings!

No pizzas, rings or drumlets picture in this post since these Golden Chicken are snatching the limelight for now! (You can check out my older posts for their pizzas here and here if you want.)

 Golden Mexican Chicken

Golden Outback Chicken

When these Golden Chicken arrived on our table, all of us could not wait to try all 4 Golden Chicken! (Not without taking pictures first of course.)

''Which is which?''

''This one taste really good!''

''This one quite spicy!''

''I also find this too spicy.''

''I don't know which one I am eating but it taste so good!''
''It is quite convenient to eat these.''

Mainly positive feedback started flowing, like the chocolate molten lava cake that Domino's have.

Anyway, the base may look a bit charred and hard because of the cheese. I guess the base was meant to gather the bite-size 'chicken balls' together.  

Right now Domino's is running the GOLD RUSH PROMOTION!!!

Key in these discount codes for these benefits!! (Valid till 8th March!)

Not only that, check out this link on how to win attractive prizes when you purchase from Domino's!

Thank you The Influencer Network and Domino's for hosting us.